


Fortysomething

by wheel_pen



Series: Magnus and Bay [5]
Category: Fortysomething, Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Cosmic Partners (wheel_pen), F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-15
Updated: 2016-07-15
Packaged: 2018-07-24 04:58:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7494783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wheel_pen/pseuds/wheel_pen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Magnus is Rory Slippery, son of a London doctor who also seems to have special powers, and together they have transformed their staid home into a free-love commune for all their friends. Galena and Ruby are drawn there, but Bay is still missing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fortysomething

**Author's Note:**

> The bad words are censored. That’s just how I do things. I own nothing and appreciate the chance to play in this universe.
> 
> Guest starring: Sarah Polley as Galena; Scarlett Johansson as Ruby

 

The taxi let Galena off at the end of the block and she strolled down the sidewalk, glancing over the fences and privet hedges at each house. She could feel the pull growing stronger, knew she was getting close, though it also felt a bit odd, twisted somehow. She looked forward to finding out why.

It was a nice neighborhood—certainly not the best in London, but a doctor/solicitor sort of neighborhood, tidy homes that were well-maintained, the same flowers growing in every yard, all signs of human habitation neatly tucked away for fear of what the neighbors might think. Well, except for the house with the goat in the yard.

Galena blinked and stopped, staring through the gate at the animal, which bleated at her. The yard was strewn with bicycles, footballs, a toddler’s toy kitchen, a kiddie pool, a pair of sneakers. Not very neat or tidy at all. This was definitely her destination. How intriguing.

The gate was locked when she tried it, and she turned to see a security camera watching her. This was not really a security camera neighborhood. A speaker stood nearby and Galena pressed the button under it.

Inside the house Edwin heard the buzz of the call box and dropped his spoon mid-bite into his cereal, racing from the kitchen table up to his room. No one else seemed to care about the security gate; it was his own invention, and he was the only one who manned it. He had things to secure, after all.

He peered at the image on his computer screen and rolled his eyes. A blond young woman, smartly dressed. Girls were always turning up here, it seemed. Well, not that he was complaining exactly—he quite liked the chaotic free-love atmosphere, he just didn’t know how their rather boring existence had become that. Possibly around the time Dad had brought home a boyfriend and Mom was cool with it, or maybe when Rory and Daniel had started swapping girlfriends around.

Edwin flicked on his microphone. “Yes?” he asked abruptly, trying to sound intimidating.

“ _Hello_ ,” the blond answered. She looked a little too serious for Edwin. “ _I’m looking for someone_.”

She stopped there and Edwin made a face. “Well, who?” he prompted.

“ _I don’t know his name_ ,” she admitted. This was actually not an uncommon occurrence around here. “ _He probably has blue eyes and very good cheekbones_.”

Edwin shook his head. “Hang on,” he told her, then bounded downstairs shouting. “Dad! Paul! There’s a—“ His father popped his head out of his study right in front of him. “There’s a girl at the gate, she’s looking for someone with good cheekbones,” he announced dismissively.

“Cheekbones?” Paul repeated dubiously. “Well she’s come to the right place, I suppose.” Edwin had already run off to another part of the house, distracted by a crying baby, leaving Paul to go to a front window and peer out through the curtain. His eyes widened slightly when he saw the young woman, and he activated the gate to admit her.

Galena walked through the opened gate up the sidewalk, glancing at the goat. It bleated again but then returned to munching on grass. She went up the front steps and was about to try the door when suddenly it was opened, revealing a man. For a moment they just stared at each other, assessing. Galena could feel the power radiating from him—but this was _not_ the person she was expecting.

“I’m sorry,” she said slowly, not quite sure what to do. “I might have the wrong house…”

There was a reason Paul kept a recent photo of the three boys in a frame near the front door; he’d seen reactions like this before. He held the photo up for the girl to see. “Are you looking for one of them?” he asked her.

Galena blinked at the photo. “Yes, this one,” she told him immediately, pointing to the young man standing behind the others. Though in some ways she hardly recognized him, either.

Paul nodded. “That’s my son, Rory,” he explained, setting the photo aside. “I’m Paul Slippery.”

Galena was too distracted now to comment on the surname, though she shook his hand when he offered it. “I’m Galena,” she introduced, wishing she could get another look at the photo. “You’re his father?”

Paul stepped aside and gestured for her to come in, well understanding her confusion. “Yes, biological,” he confirmed.

“That must have been quite a surprise,” Galena commented dryly. “Is Rory here?”

Paul was leading her through the house to the back. “No, he’s at work right now.”

Galena frowned. “Where does he work?”

“Homeless shelter,” Paul revealed, glancing back to see her expression. “Very kind heart.”

Her eyebrows were raised in surprise—this was not the personality she recalled. “Really?” she couldn’t help sputtering. “Does he—“ She hesitated, then asked simply, “Does he remember?” This man would know what she meant, if he was supposed to know.

“Oh yes,” Paul assured her, with a slight smirk. “I guess he’s a right little b-----d sometimes, but not this time.”

As he said this, he stepped out into the expansive backyard, which could not possibly have fit on their lot. Daniel buzzed by in swimming trunks. “Are you talking about me?” he asked cheekily, looking Galena up and down. “Hello, I’m Daniel—“

“Daniel!” interrupted a very pregnant blond. “Are you bringing my drink? I think I’m dehydrating out here.”

Immediately Daniel’s attention went to her and he swept over to her chair under a patio umbrella, brandishing a drink both for her and the other girl beside her, who was also blond and very pregnant.

“That’s my son Daniel,” Paul introduced. “Adopted. That’s my other son, Edwin, also adopted,” he added. Edwin was on the other side of the massive fenced swimming pool, bent over a stumbling toddler. “That’s Laura and Lucy,” he went on, indicating the pregnant blonds. “They’re sisters. Daniel’s girlfriends. That’s Wodge.” A short-haired girl watching Edwin and the child critically. “Edwin’s girlfriend. I think they’ve got a few others around here somewhere. There’s, hmm, lots of other people,” he concluded, not wanting to bore her with introductions. She’d learn their names soon enough.

“They all live here?” Galena asked in amazement.

“Oh yes,” Paul agreed. “We seem to have trouble blending in,” he admitted. “Looks alright from the outside, of course. But everyone likes to stay here. Plenty of room.” With a little magic there was always plenty of room and resources for everyone. Including—

“Galena!” squealed an excited voice, and a brunette young woman jumped up from where she was lounging by the pool and hurried through the gate to embrace the newcomer.

“Ruby!” Galena was relieved to see her friend. “I was starting to believe this was the wrong place,” she admitted. “A homeless shelter? A kind heart?”

“I always knew he had that in him,” Ruby claimed. “It just wanted bringing out.” Galena was slightly skeptical about this. “And he’s been raised well!” she added brightly, not at all forced even though Paul was standing right there. “Which doesn’t always happen, you know.”

“True,” Galena admitted.

“Well, we try not to turn out power-mad dictators,” Paul chimed in dryly. “Doesn’t always work,” he added, glancing at Daniel. “I suppose you two have a lot to talk about,” he went on. “Don’t let me stop you.” With that he strolled away to play with a group of small children.

“Let’s go to my room!” Ruby suggested excitedly. She leaned over and grabbed a white cover-up for her tiny white bikini, though flimsy as it was it didn’t cover much. Then she led Galena back into the house the way she’d come.

Inside, the house was fairly ordinary—made-over Victorian, some nice crown molding and woodwork but narrow, cluttered, scuffed, the way a real house was. Galena caught a glimpse of the kitchen as they passed, and it seemed unusually large and up to date—so someone’s passion was cooking, she supposed. “How many people live here?” she asked Ruby.

“Oh, lots,” she replied unhelpfully. “There’s the three sons, and they’ve all brought in girlfriends and friends. You saw Laura and Lucy? Their parents live here too. And there’s some people Rory brought from the homeless shelter, who just needed a place to live.” She jaunted up the staircase near the front door. “And Paul’s wife Estelle, and also his boyfriend Reggie.” Galena raised an eyebrow at this. “And the babies!” Ruby went on in adoration. “Laura and Lucy already have two each, and Wodge just had her second. They’re so much fun! Rory says that when we get a bit older we’ll start adopting some.”

She reached the top of the stairs and pointed to four doors, one in each direction. “Rory, Daniel, Edwin, others,” she listed quickly, then opened Rory’s door. It led to what looked like a living room with a small kitchen beyond. “We’re self-contained here,” she chattered to Galena, taking her through another door that led to a hallway. “That’s Rory’s room, and here’s mine! Yours can be right down there.”

They walked into a spacious sitting room liberally decorated with sock monkeys, both finished and partial. Galena glimpsed a bedroom beyond and imagined there was an equally nice bathroom and walk-in closet after that. Why not, when the laws of physics were apparently going to be completely disregarded?

“Is it only you and Rory in this wing?” Galena questioned. “Where’s Bay?”

At this Ruby heaved a sigh and settled down on the couch. “We haven’t found him yet,” she explained with regret.

Galena frowned—that was most unusual as well. “I’m surprised he hasn’t found _you_ , this place practically glows in the dark.”

“We think maybe he’s younger,” Ruby suggested.

“And what is going on with Paul?” Galena wanted to know. “I’ve never met him before. Have I?”

“I don’t think _I_ have,” Ruby decided, “but it can be hard to remember.”

“But where did he _come_ from?” Galena persisted. “He’s like us, isn’t he?”

“He seems to be.” Ruby did not have any useful theories on this point, apparently.

“And for Magnus to be his _biological_ son—“ Galena continued anyway.

“Well, that happens sometimes,” Ruby reminded her.

“ _Very_ rarely,” Galena corrected.

Ruby nodded readily. “Reggie’s like us, too,” she confided. “He and Paul, they go together.”

Galena was frantically scanning her memory for any ideas. “Maybe it’s an intersection,” she mused. “Of two groups. Probably no one knows what to do about it”—here she meant those charged with keeping an eye on them—“so that’s why all the rules are being broken.”

“Oh,” Ruby scoffed, “we’re not breaking _bad_ rules. It’s just making the house accommodate everyone. It’s just being nice and helping people.”

Per usual Ruby saw things with rather skewed optimism, in Galena’s opinion. “Daniel has _two_ girlfriends, who are sisters,” she pointed out. “Paul has a wife _and_ a boyfriend living together. Edwin’s fathered two kids and he looks like he isn’t even out of school yet!” Ruby blinked at her. “That’s hardly following the rules of normal society.”

“Well.” Ruby was not one to worry about philosophical issues. “It’s just about love, no one’s getting hurt.”

Galena could see she was becoming a bit offended. “Oh, I’m sure that’s true,” she promised her friend in a lighter tone. “It sounds nice. I’m just surprised it’s been _allowed_.”

Ruby perked up again. “Wait until you meet Rory, he’s so _dreamy_ ,” she cooed, and Galena smiled indulgently. “Young and sensitive and respectful and intense and delicious…” Galena raised an eyebrow at the adjectives, which didn’t all seem to go together, or with Magnus.

“Not even a little arrogance?” she teased, but Ruby shook her head.

“Confidence,” she corrected. “Quiet confidence. And when he sleeps he looks like an angel.” Galena finally started to laugh and Ruby joined in, though they were not laughing at quite the same things.

“Oh _here_ you are,” said a familiar voice, and Galena felt her heart skip a beat before she turned to the doorway. Though Ruby’s description was a bit ridiculous, Galena’s longing to see Magnus again was real, and his blue eyes and ready smile had her on her feet and rushing to him with a level of emotion she didn’t usually like to show. “Galena, my love,” he greeted, embracing her. “Are you alright?”

She was sniffling a little, face flushed as she caught the tears under her eyes. “I just—missed you, and—what are you wearing?” she demanded by way of distraction.

Rory glanced down at his trainers, jeans, canvas jacket. “It’s what I usually wear—“

“And this?” Galena plucked the woolly cap from his head, revealing short, slightly gingery hair.

“I made that!” Ruby piped up from the background.

“You need a woolly cap to work with homeless people,” Rory told her, cheeky but not mean-spirited. “Helps you blend in.”

Galena gave him a narrow look, then reached up and kissed him. After a moment of sweetness the kiss deepened and Galena found herself pressed against the wall, gasping for breath, her hands clutching at his shoulders. His blue eyes burned hers from the short distance he’d pulled back. “Well, I guess it _is_ you,” she allowed with a lazy smile. “I was beginning to wonder if this was just a disguise.”

He smiled slowly, devastatingly. That was the smile she’d followed, away from all good sense. “It’s me,” he agreed. “Just a little different this time.” He stepped back a bit, to give her more space. “Have you met my father?” he asked, greeting Ruby with a kiss. “He’s _really_ my father. Most extraordinary thing.”

“There are a lot of extraordinary things around here,” Galena noted dryly.

“Can we make her room now?” Ruby asked excitedly.

Rory smiled at her. “Why don’t you get dressed for dinner,” he diverted tactfully, “and I’ll show her my room?”

It was hard to tell if Ruby was fooled by this or not, but she acquiesced cheerfully. “Okay!” She bounced off to her bedroom while Rory guided Galena across the hall.

His sitting room was very experimental young man, Galena thought—big screen TV with an oversized couch and video game consoles, weird art like mannequin heads lining a shelf, obscure movie posters on the wall, clothes discarded carelessly on the floor. He seemed a bit embarrassed about this as he kicked a pair of pants under the couch, which Galena found refreshing and charming. “I heard you were sensitive, intense, respectful, and, hmm, _delicious_ ,” she teased, and his fair cheeks flushed slightly. “But no one mentioned _neat_.” He laughed at that and took his jacket off, slinging it over a corner of a chair.

“Do you want anything to drink?” he offered hospitably. “We’ll be having dinner soon—“

“No, thanks,” Galena assured him. She felt oddly awkward, but then these things could be that way; it wasn’t natural, to meet someone you knew intimately, and yet not at all. Like an old boyfriend, who’d grown up and changed, perhaps. And you were eager to see what he’d changed into, but wondered if he still had a place in his life for you. Then Rory smiled at her again and settled down on the couch beside her, opening his arms to her like they’d last seen each other just yesterday, and she knew she was ridiculous to even worry about it.

“Where’ve you been living?” he asked, his lips brushing the top of her hair.

“I was in eastern Canada for a while,” Galena told him, “then a couple years ago I decided to move to London.”

“Hmm, wonder why,” Rory commented lightly. “Why’ve you not come sooner, then?” He asked this mildly; he knew you couldn’t rush Galena, she had to come to things in her own time.

As he predicted she shrugged against him. “I had to get settled in,” she replied. “I wasn’t ready yet.”

Rory nodded. “Do you want to stay here?” he asked her quietly, rubbing her shoulder.

Galena sat up a little so she could look at him. “Of course.”

“It’s very loud and chaotic here,” he warned, thinking of the fuss he’d walked through just to get upstairs. “Here we can have things quiet”—his wing was well-insulated—“but as soon as you go downstairs—I know you don’t like that kind of thing.”

Galena did not, it was true. “Well, I’ve put up with worse,” she reminded him. “I can always come up here to relax. Oh, I have a couple cats,” she added. “That won’t be a problem, will it?”

“No, not at all,” Rory claimed, so smoothly that Galena believed him, and then she laughed because this change was going to take some getting used to.

“And a lot of books, and a lot of notebooks,” she added.

“I can’t wait to see them,” he promised. “I will make you a beautiful room to work in. A study, lined with bookshelves.” He leaned towards her as he spoke, his arm around her shoulders.

“I’d like that,” Galena assured him, her gaze dropping to his lips.

A knock on the door startled them both. “I’m going down to dinner,” Ruby chirped.

“We should go,” Rory asserted, and Galena raised an eyebrow at him. His expression at least was reluctant, but then he popped up dutifully and took her hand. “You have to meet everyone,” he enthused. “My mother is lovely, and so is Uncle Reggie. Paul is a bit dry-witted sometimes, you might not catch all his jokes.”

“Well, I’ll try to keep up,” Galena replied, steeling herself for the onslaught.

**

Every day it was the same.

John woke up panting, clawing for breath through the dream he’d been having, and stared numbly at the close walls of his room, trying to merge the images in his head with those around him. Both seemed so real—in fact sometimes the dream seemed _more_ real—that for long minutes his brain just couldn’t handle them, couldn’t let both coexist. Eventually, the bedroom walls won, and then John wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep. Even if it had been a war nightmare—the fields of World War I, the sands of the Middle East, an alien planet (?) surrounded by ruthless walking insects (?)—he preferred that to the drabness of his true existence. At least in a war he would have a purpose.

Worse than war nightmares were the other kind of dream, the one with a handsome man, always the same face but different ages, different hair, always the same blue eyes piercing him, the same full lips smiling. There was no one who looked at him like that in real life, and he couldn’t imagine there ever would be. It was devastating, to wake up from _that_.

His alarm buzzed again, not allowing him to sleep, and he banged it off, throwing himself from bed with a frustration bordering on anger. Harry had gotten into the shower first because he’d snoozed for an extra five minutes; he’d be lucky to have hot water when she was done—if they had hot water at all today. It wasn’t that their existence was _so_ horrible—you saw worse on the news every day—it was just that he felt so intensely out of place in it. Harry had friends, she laughed, she had fun—John merely daydreamed about being somewhere else, _someone_ else, unable to accept what was in front of him, no matter how often he ordered himself to.

He showered, he ate breakfast, he left for school. John was dutiful; he didn’t skip school, no matter how much he wanted to. Only this day, which had started off bad, was not getting any better, and the bus pulled away just as he was racing for it. According to John’s watch it was early, which might mean his watch had stopped working.

The proper thing to do was to wait for the next bus, or consult the transit map for the next viable pick-up point. That was what John in the real world did. But what if—what if, a little voice glimmered inside him, what if he didn’t _have_ to be John in the real world? What if he could be someone else, someone who was gazed at with love and longing by a handsome young man?

This sounded dangerous, like losing one’s grip on reality; but it was also so overwhelmingly tempting that all of Real World John’s objections to it melted away, like candy floss in the rain. So he started walking, not towards the next bus stop or school, but just wherever his feet felt like taking him.

He stayed sensible on one level—watching out for cars, not going into dodgy areas. Beyond that he banished all thoughts about what he was doing and why, and what the consequences might be. A cursory examination suggested they would not be that severe, so he kept walking.

John ended up in a neighborhood he’d never been in before—well, why would he, it was obviously for posh people who liked things just so, all tidy and proper. Yet, something called to him, and he started to walk faster, like he was afraid something would vanish before he could catch it, like that bus he had missed earlier but exponentially more important. Like when you saw someone you knew in a crowd, but you didn’t want to call out and draw attention to yourself, but you desperately hoped they would turn at the right moment and see you—

A gate opened ahead of him and John stopped short. He knew he would look suspicious—or foolish—to whoever was about to walk out, when they saw him just standing there, frozen, but he couldn’t make himself move. He wanted—he desperately wanted—but no more than he _usually_ desperately wanted, and that had never gotten him anywhere—

Three people came out of the gate, young, a bit older than him, two girls and a tall, ginger-headed fellow. They weren’t facing John at all; but like magnets drawn to iron, they all slowly turned to stare at him, and John saw the face from his dreams, impossible but true. Then the young man smiled at him, and John suddenly realized: he was right where he belonged, finally.


End file.
